1. Public Accounts Committees in Asia. A preliminary analysis By Riccardo Pelizzo

2. Introduction-1

3. Intro-2 The performance of PACs tends to be explained on the basis of Organizational features Institutional features Behavioral caharacetristics

4. Intro-3 Three sets of organizational features are generally regarded as crucial – The size of the PAC – The composition of the committee – The partisan affiliation of the Chairperson

5. Intro-4 Two sets of institutional features are regarded as important: – The institutionalization of the PAC – The range of powers of the PAC

6. Intro-5

7. The institutionalization Constitution: Sri Lanka, Bangladesh Rules of parliament: Maldives, Nepal, Thailand Act of Parliament: Bhutan, Indonesia

8. institutionalization Some of the Asian PACs are old, others are fairly new. The distinction old/new, in our sample, reinforces the subregional divide: South Asian PACs are generally older –except for Bhutan-, while South East Asian PACs for which we have data are all new (Thailand, Indonesia)

9. The organization-1 There are three questionss that we need to address on the basis of the data we present in the next slide: 1) how does Asian PACs compare with PACs in the rest of th world? 2) how do Asian PACs compare to one another? 3) do differences within region reflect institutiona age or geographic location?

10. The organization-2 country Size of the PAC (n. of MPs serving on the Committee) % Opposition MPs serving on the Committee Opposition chair Size of the staff (n. of staff members supporting the PAC) Bhutan5n.a. 7 Bangladesh1240No2 Indonesia933Yes10 Maldives750Yes0 Nepal240Yes5 Sri Lanka31n.a.Yes6 Thailand846.6Yes9 Average13.733.9283.3% yes5.57

11. The organization-3 When we speak of the organizational features of a PAC, we refer to – Size of the PAC (number of MPs) – Composition of PAC (number of opposition MPs serving on the Committee) – Partisan affiliation of the PAC Chairperson – (Staff)

12. The organization-4 The size of Asian PACs varies from a minimum of 5 memebrs in Butan to a maximum of 31 members in Sri Lanka, with an average size of 13.7 members The average size of Asian PACs is larger than the average size worldwide (10.6) New PACs are all small, while older PACs are generally larger South East Asian PACs are smaller (8.5) than South Asian ones (11.3)

13. The organization-5 Opposition MPs control on average 33.9 % of the seats in Asian PACs this is below the world average (37%) New PACs and South East Asian seem to give better representation to opposition forces— this is because no (0) opposition MP serves on the PAC Nepal—if Nepal is removed from analysis, institutional age and geographic location have no impact on PAC composition

14. The organization-6 83.3 per cent of Asian PACs have an opposition Chair Only 70 % of PAC worldwide have an opposition chair All SEA PACs have an opposition chair, while of the 4 South Asian PAC does not have an opposition chair

15. The organization-7 Asian PACs are larger, more likely to have an opposition chair than PACs operating elsewhere, with fewer opposition MPs serving on the committee, but with a larger staff On average Asian Pacs have 5.6 staff members The world average is 3.4

16. The organization-8 If the success of a PAC depends on its organizational features, Asian PACs should outperform the PACs operating in other regions.

17. The mandate-1 Wider mandate is expected to make PACs more successful Mandate refers to – Right of access – Accounts and operations – Relationship with the AG or SAI

18. The mandate-2 Right of access refers to the number and type of government organizations or public entities to which PACs have either unconditional, conditional or no access Respondents were asked to say whetehr and how much access they had to the following organization/public entities:

19. The mandate-3 Gov’t agencies within the finance portfolio, Government agencies outside the finance portfolio, Statutory authorities, Government owned corporations, Local government authorities, Parliament, Parliamentarians’ expenditures, Government service providers, Government funded NGOs

20. The mandate-4 The power concerning accounts and operations refer to whether PACs can: examine accounts; consider budget estimates; assess the efficiency, economy and effectiveness of a given policy; the efficiency and the economy of policy implementation, the effectiveness of policy implementation, undertake self-initiated inquiries

21. The mandate-5 The three powers that belong to the third category are the power to perform an examination of Auditor General compliance reports, an examination of Auditor General Performance reports and, finally, the power to refer matters to the Auditor General for investigation. PACs can enjoy each of these powers unconditionally, conditionally or may not enjoy it at all.

22. The mandate-5.1 Let’s see : how these three sets of powers are distributed in Asia and how the Asian region compares with the global trends We will start consider the right of access, accounts and operations and the relatiosnhip with the AG in this order

23. The mandate-6 BhutanBangladeshIndonesiaMaldivesNepalSri LankaThailand Government agencies within the finance portfolio 110.51111 Government agencies outside the finance portfolio 1111111 Statutory authorities1111111 Government owned corporations 1111111 Local government authorities 101*111 Parliament (and its expenditures) 10.511111 Parliamentarians’ expenditures (eg. Staff) 1100111 Government service providers 1111110 Government funded non- government organizations 001*110 Tot86.57.56*987

24. The mandate-7 Except for right of access over arliamentarians expenditures, where there is no detectable difference and for right of access over NGOs, - PACs worldwide are more likely to have such right of access - PACs from Asian are more likely to enjoy all the other rights of access

25. The mandate-8 worldARAPAC Power% of PACs that lack this power Government agencies within the finance portfolio 0.00 Government agencies outside the finance portfolio 1.90 Statutory authorities9.30 Government owned corporations9.30 Local government authorities35.816.6 Parliament (and its expenditures)7.30 Parliamentarians’ expenditures (eg. Staff)24.428.6 Government service providers35.214.3 Government funded non-government organizations 41.550

26. The mandate-9 Examination ofBhutanBangladeshIndonesiaMaldivesNepalSri LankaThailand accounts and financial affairs 110.51111 Consideration of budget estimates (other than Audit Office) 1000100 Efficiency, economy and effectiveness of government policy 11111*1 Efficiency and economy of policy implementation (value for money) 11111*1 Effectiveness of government implementation (delivery of outcomes) 11011*1 Undertake self- initiated inquiries 00111*1 Tot543.55615

27. The mandate-10 First of all, the percentage of PACs from Asia that is mandated to consider budget estimates is greater than it is worldwide—28.6 Asian PACs have this power while only 22.2 per cent of the PACs globally have it. Second, while all Asian PACs evaluate the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of government policy, only 79.6 per cent of the PACs worldwide has the power to do so. Third, al PACs from the Asian region consider the value for money of policy implementation, whereas only 94.1 per cent of the PACs is empowered to do so globally.

28. The mandate-11 the mandate that PACs have in the region with regard to the examination of accounts of operation is wider than it is worldwide. Except with regard to – a) the delivery of outcomes and – b) the power to launch self-initiated inquiries.

29. The mandate-12 With regard to the relationship with the Auditor General, the survey questionnaire administered by WBI and CPA, asked whether PACs had the power to examine the AG’s compliance reports, the AG’s performance reports and whether they had the power to refer matters to the AG for investigation.

30. The mandate-13 All the PACs from Asia reported to enjoy each of these power on an unconditional basis. This result places PACs from Asia region above the world average as these powers are more common here than they are, from instance, in Africa, Australia, Canada and the Pacific region.

31. The activity-1 The level of activity of PACs is measured on the basis of three indicators: The Number of Meetings The Number of Hearings The Number of Inquiries completed

32. The activity-2 Meetings are normally called by the Chairperson in consultation with members representing all the parties; The Committee is expected to schedule sufficient meetings to discharge its responsibilities.

33. The activity-3 There is considerable variation in the frequency or number of meetings between PACs in Asia. Most frequent meetings were held in Thailand while the fewest were held in Bhutan which, along with Indonesia and Thailand, is a relatively new PAC Hence the institutional age does not explain variation in the number of meetings

34. The activity-4 Bangladesh holds on average 15 meetings per year; Nepal around 40 meetings per year; Sri Lanka around 40 per year ; Bhutan has only recently started and had held 4 meetings during the last year, Thailand holds 50 meetings a year, Indonesia reported to hold 2 meetings a week but did not provide an indication of the number of weeks. The average number of meetings held in the region is higher than the world average

35. The activity-5 In terms of number of hearings held the Nepalese PAC is the most active Thailand was the least active Bangladesh, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand did not provide any indication as to whether and how many hearings they hold on a yearly basis.

36. The activity-6 As we noted above a fairly large number of PAC from the Asian region has the power to conduct self-initiated inquiries. there is some variation in the percentage of activities initiated by the PAC itself. This percentage varies from a minimum of 0 percent in Bhutan to a maximum of 100 per cent in Thailand and Maldives islands. Bangladesh reported that the PAC had initiated about 80 per cent of the activities it conducted.

37. The activity-7 Nearly all, PACs in the region conduct more than one inquiry at the same time. Indonesia, Thailand, Bhutan and Sri Lanka reported to conduct up to 3 inquiries simultaneously Nepal reported to conduct up to 9 inquiries at once.

38. The activity-8 There is some variation in how long it takes to complete self-initiated inquiries. The duration of this type of inquiries is up to 3 months in Bhutan, from 3 to 6 months in Indonesia and Thailand and up to 12 months in Nepal.

39. The activity-9 There is an inverse relationship between the duration of inquiries and the number of inquiries conducted. Either holding too many inquiries at once prevents the PACs from completing them in a more expedite manner or because completing an inquiry is such a time consuming effort that the PAC ends up holding so many inquiries simultaneously

40. The activity-10 In the three before the survey was administered Maldives completed 1 inquiry, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal completed 2 inquiries, Sri Lanka completed 3 inquiries, Indonesia completed 4 a year in its one year of activity, while Thailand completed 2.5 a year in the two years it was active. SEA PACs completed more inquiries than SA PACs